Together
by Slothy Girl
Summary: Kukai, what are you doing," Yaya breathed and stared with wide eyes at him. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm protecting you from the monsters." -ONESHOT- Light and fluffy, just the way my momma used to make it. Read and review if you so please.


Hi there, and welcome to _Together_ a KukaixYaya fic! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Disclaimer- I own nothing, Not Shugo Chara or the resturant Pintcos Bepo.

"talkinging"

_thoughts _

* * *

"Mama, why do you and daddy have to go and leave poor Yaya behind?" the red haired girl whined pitifully, clutching her mother's leg like a lifeline. Eyes wide and glazed over with unshed crocodile tears, Yaya pouted the cutest she could, hoping to win her mother over, without much success.

"Honey, we won't be gone long. Your father and I just wanted to go out for some _adult time_ before your brother's born," Mrs. Yuiki smiled softly, putting the Tupperware container full of rice, grilled beef, and vegetables in the fridge, and gently pried her daughter's hands from her leg. She clasped Yaya's hands in her own, bent over as much as she could with her large, pregnant belly, and looked into her nine year old daughter's chestnut-brown eyes, "Yaya, darling, can you do mommy a big favor and be good for the babysitter?"

With the pout still firmly in place, Yaya jerked her hands from her mother's grasp and spun around, crossing her arms stubbornly across her chest and sniffling a little. If her mother was going to be that way and not fall for her_ cutesy_ act, she would have to revert into her "hard to get" mode. Whether her mom liked it or not, she was going to attend her parents little get together at the well known Spanish restaurant that she could not quite pronounce _Pint-a-cos Be-pop? What kind of restaurant name is that?_ and eat all the candy and sweets her little grubby hands could get a hold of.

Mrs. Yuiki sighed quietly at her daughter's persistent attempts to guilt and cute her way into the little date, but she would have nothing of it. She had planned this date for over a month; there was so much that had had to be done: reservations had had to be made, money had had to be saved up, and an outfit that could accommodate her current pregnant state had had to be bought. There was no way she would let anything ruin her plans, even if that meant not bringing her daughter with her. Noting that Yaya seemed unfazed by anything she said; an effective plan suddenly popped into her head and she immediately put it into action.

The Yuiki spouse suddenly straightened up and smoothed down her green dress until there were no longer any wrinkles visible on the stretchy material, turned around so her back faced Yaya, and she headed into the foyer, "Alright, if you're going to be that way don't expect me to bring anything home for you, like chocolate cake."

A hand shot out and grabbed the edge of her dress and she smiled, knowing she had won this one. If only it were that easy when it came to dinner. She faced her daughter again, an expectant look on her heart shaped face. Yaya flushed and muttered a quick 'Ok,' not having liked admitting to defeat, but when desserts were in jeopardy pride meant nothing. Content with the answer given to her, Mrs. Yuiki beamed at her daughter, ruffled her hair a little, and went about giving her instructions on her behavior while the babysitter was here and mentioning somewhere that they would be home around ten o' clock.

Yaya barley listened but nodded her head gloomily all the same, thinking about how miserable her night was going to be with some babysitter who would probably think she was some immature baby, which she so was not –_yea who was she trying to kid._

_Ring… Ring…_

"Oh, that must be the babysitter now!" Mrs. Yuiki squealed and rushed to the door, eager to leave the house as soon as possible, "Honey, hurry up, we need to leave!" she called up the stairs to her husband. Mr. Yuiki scrambled down the steps, hands nervously adjusting his tie and fixing his already perfectly-in-place hair.

"Yaya, come see who your babysitter is!" Mrs. Yuiki called happily toward the kitchen where she had left the nine year old in her haste to get to the door. "Yaya?" she repeated with pursed lips when no one answered.

-------

Yaya had sprinted up the stairs the second the door bell rang, hoping to take refuge in her pink and girly bedroom. Panting from her running escapade, she shot through the doorway to her room, locked it, and then proceeded to frantically barricade herself in. She knew she had some snacks somewhere hidden in there, so she would hopefully hold up for the night and avoid the so called _babysitter_.

"Pepe, I couldn't get mama to take us with her," Yaya said with a frown when she finished her mission to block all entries to her room and collapsed on her bed, breathing regulated once more.

"Aw," Pepe sighed simultaneously with Yaya and joined her human friend on the bed to sulk at the lost treats they could have had to snack on that night. At least they would get some cake to eat, but they wouldn't get to even look at it 'till tomorrow; _stupid bedtime rule_.

The sound of the front door slamming shut startled the two girls from their moping session and the thudding noise of foot steps pounding up the stairs had them sitting up on the bed, ready to scream or to jump out the window, whichever came first. Suddenly, there was silence. The sound of the foot steps had disappeared leaving only the noise of the creaking house shifting. Yaya and Pepe concentrated and strained their ears, trying to catch even the smallest out of the ordinary glint that might have been triggered. Maybe it was the babysitter, though wouldn't he have announced his arrival by now? What if it was an intruder who managed to get in before her parents left?

Unexpectedly, a round of swift knocks assailed Yaya's door, causing a loud scream to erupt from the red haired girl's mouth. Taking hold of Pepe, the two girls continued to scream as they hastily scrambled under the bed, tears beginning to form in their large, almond shaped eyes.

"Oi, are you all right Yaya?" A familiar voice rang through the wooden door worriedly. Unfortunately for whoever was standing at the door, Yaya could not quite hear what they said or what they sounded like, for their voice had been muffled and scattered by the comforter Yaya had pulled over herself and Pepe's head in an attempt to protect them against whatever on slot was bound to come if the intruder managed to get past the barricade Yaya had put together not long ago.

The two girl's screams of terror increased in volume as the sound of the door being forced open and the many toys placed in front of it being thrust away met their ears. Tears were now freely pillaging down their faces, getting more and more hysterical, as someone quickly crossed the small bedroom, having followed the sound of their sobs to the bed. The person took hold of the comforter and yanked it roughly out from under the bed and began unraveling its many folds, attempting to find the girls hidden amongst its warmth.

Eyes were clenched shut when light from the ceiling lamp abruptly descended upon the two girl's eye lids, painting a color of blood-red across them. Salty tears continued to run down Yaya's face and she trembled like a rose in an ice storm when, out of the blue, she was forcefully pulled into a strong and yet strangely familiar hold. The smell of grass from a field and something vaguely unique entered her nose and she suddenly knew who it was without even looking up.

"Kukai," Yaya whispered, all of a sudden calmer then she had ever been before; the trembling stopped and the tears dimed down to almost nothing, there was no longer a reason to cry.

"Yaya, are you ok?" Kukai asked in a slightly panicked murmur, having been startled by all the frantic screaming and crying Yaya and her guardian character had done. He tightened his embrace on the chestnut-eyed girl, "Yaya?"

The redhead nodded and pulled away slightly. Keeping a firm hold on Kukai's shirt she met the alluring green eyes of her best friend before shoving her face back into his chest, "I'm ok, I-I thought you were some stranger."

Kukai became rigid and winced a little; scaring the poor little girl had not been his intent when he had run up the stairs to her room.

"_Yaya's gone up to her room so she doesn't know you're here yet; you should surprise her, you always seem to be a source of happiness for her and when I told her we were leaving she got depressed, so go make her smile for me please."_ Mrs. Yuiki had said before she walked out the front door to join her husband in the awaiting car. Some source of happiness he had been, though, he's got to admit, if he hadn't frightened her, she probably wouldn't be this cuddly with him, which was a surprisingly welcome change from her. As if to emphasis his point, Yaya buried her face even further into his chest and curled up into his arms like a cute little two year old seeking warmth from her favorite stuffed animal.

"I'm sorry Yaya."

"Hee hee, Yaya isn't hurt so everything is ok!" the redhead smiled joyfully before untangling herself from Kukai's grasp, it was as if nothing had happened. She stood up and shared a quick giggle with the now perfectly fine Pepe (thanks to the hovering Daichi) before, together, they rushed to the door. Being scared had brought a sudden, powerful hunger to the two and they both mutually felt that it needed to be quenched. Stopping just outside her room, Yaya turned back with a questioning look, "Aren't you coming Kukai?"

Kukai stared blankly at her from his place on the floor in response, arms still slightly stretched out, stiffly hugging the place where Yaya had just been. It was becoming increasingly uncomfortable to Yaya as the staring continued, so to take his human friend's eyes off the flushing Yaya, Daichi kicked him lightly in the head, snapping him out of whatever could possibly be going through that pretty little cranium of his.

"Let's go heat up the left-overs your mom put in the fridge then." He smiled lightly, ruffled his hair, and followed the giggling Yaya out of the room, shutting the light off when Daichi was out and closing the door behind him.

---------

After clearing the table and loading the dirty plates and cups into the dishwasher, Yaya and Kukai settled into the living room; Kukai stretched out like a cat on the low, brown leather couch while Yaya made herself comfortable in a big, tan, plush chair. The two kid's charas had long since left their human friends to go upstairs and eat the candy Yaya had stashed in her room, _"she'll never notice it's gone," _Pepe giggled, leaving the redhead and the brunette by themselves in the large T.V/ Living room. With Yaya being the controller of the remote, the two proceeded to watch television to pass the time. With the channel set to "Japan's Funniest Home Videos," the two preteens laughed their way through a good hour, until the odd bird clock Mrs. Yuiki insisted on keeping in the room went off signaling it was eight o' clock, thus ending the show. It was soon replaced by a horror film starring a couple of American actors attempting to convince the audience they were Japanese people (it didn't work out to well) and when the blood and guts started flying, Kukai had to hastily take the remote from the shocked and wide-eyed Yaya's hands and turn the channel to something less… gory. Of course, by the time Kukai had even gotten a hold of the remote, Yaya had seen enough to haunt her dreams and turn them into gore filled nightmares, something she wasn't too pleased to have the pleasure of knowing.

Yaya reclaimed her hold on the remote and began flipping through the channels lazily but alertly._ I don't_ _want to come across something like that again without being ready,"_ she firmly told herself. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing interesting on (other than the horror film which Yaya promptly skipped over every time she passed it) and as the channels continued to change every few seconds, Kukai began getting increasingly irritated with Yaya's constant channel flipping.

"If you can't find anything good on, why don't we just turn off the T.V?" Kukai asked, ruffling his hair and thanking the heavens that the annoyance he felt hadn't trickled into his voice.

"There will be something good on… It just won't be on for another hour," Yaya pouted cutely and Kukai couldn't help but feel the irritation he felt ebbed away. _Her and her weird hold on me_, he thought, staring gently at the small girl as she turned the T.V off and sighed.

"I need to go get ready for bed anyway," she muttered before chucking the remote at the unsuspecting Kukai, who scrambled to catch the device before he finally got a hold of it, "Do what you want, Yaya will be back down in a minute… Do you want her to send Daichi back down?" she continued.

"Sure," Kukai said, tossed the remote onto the floor, and stretched out across the couch.

---------

After reprimanding the only slightly guilty Daichi and Pepe about stealing and eating her candy she sent the green haired chara down to his human charge, leaving Yaya and Pepe alone in the bedroom.

"Yaya, why do you think Kukai and Daichi are here anyway?" Pepe asked as she settled into her pink egg to watch Yaya tear apart her wooden dresser to find her favorite pair of pajamas.

"I don't know," Yaya muttered before beaming triumphantly. She pulled the baby pink tank top and matching black lounge pants out of the messy drawer before continuing, "At least he's not the babysitter or some random stranger we don't know."

"I guess so."

"What do you mean 'you guess so'?" Yaya stripped down to her undergarments and quickly put on the pajama shirt and pants. She looked over to Pepe expectantly when she was done, waiting for an answer from the baby chara.

"What if he** is** the babysitter? Your mommy wouldn't leave you with Kukai unless he was the babysitter," Pepe said from her egg.

"Well, maybe he is… He's not acting like one though, he's not telling Yaya what to do," Yaya pouted and grabbed her brush off the desk piled high with pictures of family, friends, and the guardians as well as other little trinkets before motioning to Pepe to follow her, "I'll ask him when we get down stairs."

Pepe nodded before zooming out of the room, Yaya in her wake.

---------

Yaya trudged down the stairs slowly, thinking about how she would ask Kukai why the heck he was here… _It can't just be for a visit,_ she thought. She entered the living room to find Kukai in the same place she left him, but with Daichi and Pepe sitting on his stomach, muttering amongst themselves.

"Hey Kukai!" She skipped happily, albeit slightly tiredly, to stand in front of the green eyed boy, "Do you think you could brush Yaya's hair for her," she continued in a rhetorical fashion _he will do as I say;_ with the cutest pout she could muster and gestured to the bows holding her hair in pigtails.

"Huh?" Kukai stared at the girl before him, having been caught off guard by both her change in attire and her sudden appearance, as a blush started creeping up his neck for reasons unknown to him.

"Can you brush Yaya's hair _**pwease**_?" She asked this time, hoping he would say _**yes **_with all her heart.

"Sure," he muttered with a sigh as the blush receded, having not quite made it to his face, _thankfully_, he added as an after thought. After stretching and hearing many satisfying pops of cramped and tense joints, Kukai sat up, knocking the two charas off of him (with pouts the two retreated to the big chair Yaya had previously occupied and resumed their conversation), and scooted forward on the seat of the low couch until he reached the edge, knees apart so she could sit between them.

Yaya did a silent happy dance in her head, pleased that he agreed, and quickly settled herself on the floor between her friend's parted legs with her back resting comfortably against the couch. She held up the brush for the brunette to take and when he did, she flashed him a quick smile before facing forward, hands in lap, "Thanks."

"No problem," Kukai murmured softly before getting to work on releasing the hair bound into the twin ponytails. Taking a bow into each hand, he tugged gently until they both loosened and fell silently away, allowing the silky red locks to fall past Yaya's petite shoulders. With a sigh of content from both kids, Kukai tangled a hand into Yaya's hair and began playing with it, working some of the knots out with his fingers.

Although Kukai openly likes playing with the chestnut-eyed girl's hair, he would rather not mention that it's _only _hers that he enjoys running his hands through. He liked to think it was just the fun of it that made him so content, but he honestly didn't have a specific reason for it. Perhaps it was because he would always feel a calming and almost light headed feeling wash over him when he ran his hands through Yaya's hair. He once brushed Sion's hair when they were younger but he didn't really feel anything in particular rush over him like it did when he brushed Yaya's tresses. Maybe it was because when he did it he was in his most relaxed state of mind and could easily think through and solve problems that would normally take hours to figure out. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because a gentle, almost dreamlike smile would grace Yaya's features, one that only Kukai got to see, one that she seemingly saved for when it was just the two of them.

He sighed contently again and started braiding and unbraiding the silky locks of red hair. A giggle sliced through the comfortable silence and Kukai couldn't help but stop and try to look at the giggling girl's face.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Yaya giggled lightly again.

"Doesn't sound like nothing."

"What you're doing is tickling the back of my neck is all," Yaya turned to face Kukai slightly and he caught sight of the smile he loved so much light up the nine year old's face. A rosy blush almost immediately warmed his cheeks _what the heck!_ he thought frantically as he chuckled almost nervously and ruffled her hair.

"Sorry."

"No, it's ok. Just don't stop."

"Ok," Kukai cleared his throat, the blush _slowly_ receding much to his displeasure. He re-tangled his hands in her hair and began unknotting the nonexistent knots, relishing both the contact and the feelings it brought.

"Kukai?" Yaya's soft voice broke through the silence again.

"Ya?"

"Why are you here?" Yaya whispered, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

Kukai stiffened, hands still half tangled half untangled in the chestnut-eyed girl's hair, "Um… I came because I felt like dropping by."

"Really?" Yaya turned intense eyes on him and he couldn't help but feel that this was one of the first times he has ever seen her being serious _she probably knows I'm lying_, he thought.

"Actually, your mom told me to come over-"

"And watch me," Yaya continued for him.

"Ya… kinda," Kukai removed his hands from her hair and shifted uncomfortably under her unrelenting stare.

As if nothing had come over her, Yaya burst out smiling, "That's good! Yaya wouldn't have wanted some weirdo stranger watching her anyway. Thanks for brushing Yaya's hair for her, she really appreciates it!" Yaya took the brush from the cushion beside Kukai; _he much rather liked running his __hands__ through her hair, not some_ _stupid __brush_ and rose to her feet.

"Yaya needs to go to bed now, thank you again!" She smiled one last time before grabbing the sleeping Pepe from the big chair she and Daichi had taken residence on and rushed up the stairs toward her bedroom, Pepe and brush in hand.

"She hates me," Kukai sighed before leaning back on the couch to catch some z's before Yaya's parents returned home in an hour, and he didn't expect Yaya to return down stairs anytime soon.

-----------

Yaya slowed her running to a walk when she reached the top landing of the staircase. _Why did he lie to_ _me- and why the heck did I react the way I did?_ Yaya thought questioningly. She entered her room lazily, Pepe now hovering over head after having been jostled awake. Yaya turned on the light and returned the brush to its rightful place on the desk.

"Yaya, what's wrong?" Pepe asked when she saw the redhead's face.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know," Yaya whispered, and then she smiled at Pepe, "Let's get some sleep, k?"

"Ok," Pepe agreed and retreated to her egg to rest, Yaya would come to her eventually with the problem.

Yaya smiled lightly before tuning off the light. The automatic blue nightlight thrust the room into shadows as she made her way to her bed, stepping over the many toys littering the floor. With a small, uncontained yawn, she hopped into bed and covered herself up in her soft and very thick comforter. She lay there, hoping sleep would come to her quickly; unfortunately, her mind would have nothing of it. Instead, it drifted back over what had happened that day and as predicted, as soon as it came upon the horror film, scenes that had managed to play before Kukai turned the channel played over and over in her head. Yaya gasped softly when her mind played over a particularly blood filled scene and she whimpered a little, frightened.

The shadows caused by the nightlight started to look like mutant people moving about in weird, jerky motions, and the sudden creaking of the house sounded more like someone opening a door rather than shifting wood.

"Pepe?" Yaya asked from under the comforter, having long since pulled the thick covers over her head to 'protect' herself from the monsters that were sure to come. Instead of a reply, a soft snore emitted from where the baby chara had fallen asleep in her egg.

Terror started making its way into Yaya's system and before she had a chance to think it through, she jumped out of bed and hurdled down the stairs as fast as she could, making her way to the living room where she knew her friend would be. With a mind completely blank, she threw herself on top of the snoring Kukai, jolting him awake and scaring the poor boy to death.

"Yaya- what the heck?" He prodded the whimpering girl in the shoulder before sighing shakily _this girl is_ _going to be the death of me_, he loosely embraced her. "What's the matter?"

"Kukai, I'm scared of all the monsters in my bedroom," Yaya whispered and clung to the brunette with strength she didn't know she possessed.

"It's because of that movie huh?" His reply was a small nod. He sighed again before turning onto his side, rolling over so that Yaya was squished between the couch and himself.

"Kukai, what are you doing?" the redhead breathed and stared with wide eyes at him.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm protecting you from the monsters," Kukai muttered and tucked Yaya's head under his chin, hiding the blush that had slowly bloomed across his cheeks. Yaya nodded numbly as a flush of her own spread across her cheeks like wildfire.

After several moments, Yaya's soft voice cut through the silence like a knife to butter, "Thanks, and I'm sorry about getting upset at you… It wasn't because you said you were my babysitter, I just didn't understand why you would lie to me."

"It's ok… I shouldn't have lied to you in the beginning anyway," Kukai sighed and tightened his hold on the petite girl in his arms, "Now go to sleep."

"You'll still be here in the morning, won't you?" Yaya asked after the silence had stretched on for a couple of minutes.

"Only if you want me too," Kukai responded and closed his eyes, sleep overtook him and he was soon out like a light. Yaya nodded slowly and with a quick "ok" in reply she too, fell asleep.

---------

"That was so much fun Shikato," Mrs. Yuiki giggled softly to herself as the two Yuiki's entered the dark and strangely quiet house, slipped off their shoes by the door, and removed their coats.

"Yes it was Ayame," Mr. Yuiki nodded firmly in agreement and he hung up his wife's and his own coat on the coat rack.

"Hmm, where are the kids? Yaya usually stays up to see us return home even though we tell her to go to bed earlier and if she's up then Kukai would be up as well," Mrs. Yuki muttered, more to herself than to her husband, and looked around, blindly attempting to find a hint of the two kids.

"I don't understand why the heck we asked him to be the babysitter," Mr. Yuiki rubbed the spot between his drawn eyebrows in slight irritation.

"Aw, are you being a protective father?" Mrs. Yuiki snorted softly in a very unlady-like fashion.

"No, it's just that he's shown a little interest in our daughter and I don't like it," He sighed and shook his head.

"That's being protective, Shikato. Besides, he's doing this one for free, kinda like a trial and error sort of experience"

"Whatever."

"Where are they?" Mrs. Yuiki questioned again after several seconds of silence. The answer was soon revealed when a rather loud snore came from the living room. She walked toward the darkened room and looked at the couch where the snoring was more prominently heard. The scene that met her eyes was absolutely the most adorable thing she had ever seen and she couldn't help but feel that she had accomplished more than what she had set out to do that night _I knew it was a good idea inviting the Souma kid over,_ she thought triumphantly.

Kukai and Yaya were a mess of tangled limbs; Yaya had an arm draped across Kukai's waist, the other clung loosely to his t-shirt, and her head was tucked safely under his chin. Kukai, though, had an arm pillowing her head with the hand tangled gently in Yaya's red locks, keeping her head under his and her face pressed into the crook of his neck, while the other held her firmly against his chest, ensuring that if he was to roll off the couch they both would and since there was nearly **no **room on the sofa, that would definitely be happening at some point. Their legs were intertwined and it was almost hard to tell whose was whose in the darkness.

Mrs. Yuiki giggled, suddenly giddy at the cute scene in front of her and she sat there for several minutes staring at the two kids with a smile on her face. Footsteps announced the arrival of her husband, whose face, upon seeing the sight before him, promptly became a very nice shade of red. Fortunately, Mrs. Yuiki grabbed her husband's arm and started dragging him away toward the stairs so that they too could get some sleep; telling him along the way that if he ruined the endearing sight she would force him to sleep outside in the cold without a blanket "You can't take refuge in the car either," she whispered in annoyance. He quickly agreed, not quite knowing if she was bluffing or telling –no, more like threatening him with the truth, especially with all the hormones that came with being pregnant (that and the fact that she could actually be that mean without being pregnant). She did, however, cave into talking to them in the morning about what had happened to get the two kids tangled together on the couch like that, but that would have to wait until morning for she was both tired and she didn't want to ruin the scene while she still had the upper hand _I shall prevail_, she thought victoriously.

With that the two adults made their way upstairs, leaving the two kids untouched and together, coincidently, dreaming of the other. Yes, they would probably get into a little trouble, what with how they had slept in each others arms and all, and yes, they would probably get grounded or worse yet, teased by both the Yuiki and the Souma parents (and Kukai's brothers to boot), but that was ok because they would get through it… together.

* * *

Hee hee, I really loved writing this! When I started it I was all like "I want it to be long, longer than any oneshot I have attempted to make, like twelve pages long -insert evil laugh-," and so here it is, a whooping fifteen pages with approximately twenty-two thousand five hundred thirty two words, all nice and edited for your pleasure.

I would like to add in a quick thanks to a good friend of mine, SierraVarsityAce, for betaing my story and encouraging me to write at my fullest- Thanks Girl!!!!!

And thank you for stopping by, leave a review on your way out if you please.


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